


The End Times Begin

by edema_ruh



Series: Delivered from the Blast [14]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Anxiety, Blood, Captivity, Destruction, Doppelganger, Evil Enjolras is so mean i'm so sorry, Hostage Situations, Implied/Referenced Torture, Interrogation, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Mind Reader Enjolras, Mind Reading, Monarchies, Murder, Psychological Torture, Self Confidence Issues, Superheroes, Superpowers, Supervillains, Telepathy, Violence, anxious joly, i'm not sure if i should tag this but...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7073869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edema_ruh/pseuds/edema_ruh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joly is at the hands of the evil-Amis, and the incipiency of the Armageddon begins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End Times Begin

Joly was tied to a chair, head hanging low and sweat dripping from his brow. 

He couldn’t know how many time had passed since he was taken into this empty apartment. He didn’t even know how these people – these doppelgangers – had found this places, being as unfamiliar to this world as they were. 

Actually, there was too much to take in for Joly to fully understand what was happening. A week ago, everything had been fine. A week ago, he was lying in bed with Musichetta and Bossuet, the loves of his life, and everything was ok. Now, he was tied on a chair, taken hostage by the copies of his friends and the manor no longer exists. Now, his real friends were stuck on another universe – another universe! -, and who knew if they were still alive. 

In fact, Joly didn’t know where this building was. His wrists were tied too tightly behind the chair and his ankles were tied to each foot of the chair, making it unable for him to move. He had woken up there, confused, and was almost considering crying for help when Enjolras entered the room. 

He knew that man wasn’t Enjolras. But it didn’t make it any easier to look the man in the eye and see only detached coldness staring back at him. 

"You already know what I want", Enjolras said, and Joly knew. He hadn't known the second before Enjolras asked, but as soon as the words left the leader's mouth, he knew. Enjolras wanted to know where to find BL's CEO. 

"What went wrong in your life?" Joly retorted, ignoring the unwelcome presence inside his mind. It made him terribly uncomfortable, as if he had a sudden desire to get out of his own skin. 

"I'm not your friend", Evil-Enjolras rolled his eyes, pulling up a chair and sitting in front of Joly. "I'm a better version of him. The Enjolras you know, the Enjolras from this world – he's weak and a coward. He only uses a fraction of his true power, he suppresses it, as if it was something to be ashamed of. As if it was a curse. It's not. I can do _anything_ ", he pronounced the words slowly, as if to make a point. "I am not impolite, though. I'd rather ask you before violating your brain". 

"Tell that to Grantaire", Joly barked, remembering what his best friend had gone through on the hands on the man in front of him. 

"I just gave Grantaire what he wanted, but was too afraid to ask for", Evil-Enjolras smirked, and the fact that he was smiling while talking about the horrors that had happened between him and the cynic made Joly sick to his stomach. "Oh, don't give me that look, Jolllly", Evil-Enjolras purred, and the use of that nickname – the one that only his friends used, that was something personal, something intimate – made Joly's stomach churn harder. "Tell me what I want, and I'll let you go". 

"You won't", Joly panted, doing his best not to vomit all over himself. He always felt nauseous when anxious, but he wouldn’t give Enjolras' doppelganger the satisfaction of seeing him like that. He shut his lips tightly and took deep breaths through his nose. 

"You're right", Enjolras shrugged softly. "I won't. Your abilities are useful to me. I should probably keep you around as my pet; I bet you would get used to it with enough time". Enjolras outstretched one hand towards Joly's face, as if meaning to caress his cheek. Joly leaned as far away as he could, avoiding the touch. 

"You're disgusting", Joly mustered though his harsh breaths. Evil-Enjolras' hand hovered right beside his cheek, without touching it. "You make me sick". 

"Good", Enjolras smiled, but it never reached his eyes. He looked inhuman, like a robot, or a monster trying to mimic a human being. The true Enjolras looked cold and marble-like, but there was always a righteous fury burning deep within his eyes and a gentle warmth that emanated from his skin; the comfort that his gaze brought was calming and reassuring even when he was at the climax of his anger. This Enjolras looked exactly like what he was – a copy. He had the true Enjolras' eyes, but lacked their passion. The green orbs staring at Joly were cold and looked ethereal, no emotion seeping through. He had Enjolras' rosy lips, but instead of proclaiming words of freedom and justice, he only spoke words that cut like knives and were targeted at people's most deep insecurities. Even his hand hovering beside Joly lacked Enjolras' usual warmth. 

"Even if I wanted to tell you what you want to know", Joly panted, tearing his gaze away from Evil-Enjolras' eyes, "I couldn’t. Dig as deep as you want into my mind; you'll find nothing. I don’t know where he is". 

"Oh, I've already looked, dearest Joly", Enjolras scoffed, smirking coldly. "While you were lost in your silly, useless thoughts. You really are a useless prick, aren't you?" The hand hovering beside Joly's face suddenly smacked him, making his head turn painfully. "I wonder why those stupid people kept you around, you're so useless and annoying. Oh, I bet they only kept you because you know how to fix them when they hurt themselves". 

"You can do this all you want", Joly responded, cheek burning from the slap. "You won't get to me". 

Enjolras smiled again, looking like he was having fun. 

"You think you're strong, but you're the weakest link", he purred, getting up from the chair and quietly putting it away. Evil-Enjolras' moved slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. "Do you really think any of your so-called friends are coming back for you? They can't even help themselves right now. And even if they found a way back, how would they resist me?" Enjolras leaned towards Joly, both hands gripping the armrests of the chair and supporting the weight of his body. From this close, Joly could feel Enjolras' breath tickling his face. 

"Do you think your stupid friends would still put up with you if they knew about your annoying attacks?" Enjolras whispered on Joly's ear. "If they knew about the way you sob, helplessly, for no reason in the middle of the night? If they knew how a single harsh word from them makes you lose your breath and hate yourself even more? Do they even know that Cosette had to kill a man to save your sorry ass because you were to scared to stop crying?" 

"My friends love me", Joly muttered, but his breaths were coming too rapid and short for the worlds to be audible. 

"Why would they? You're pathetic", Enjolras spat, leaning away from Joly and standing up straight. "And you would be already dead if it wasn’t for your precognitive abilities. That's probably your only redeeming trait". 

Evil-Enjolras started to walk away from Joly, but before he could open the room's door the young doctor spoke up. 

"I feel sorry for you", he mumbled, breathing still irregular, eyes running across the room as if he was looking for something. 

"You keep telling yourself that", Evil-Enjolras responded, "Meanwhile, I'll see if the children have something useful to tell me for a change". 

"Children?" Joly asked, frowning. His breath catched on his throat. "What children?" 

"Have a nice stay, Joly. You'd better get used to this place", Enjolras said, voice impossibly dry. 

"What children, Enjolras?" He managed to yell, but Evil-Enjolras left, closing the door behind him with a loud slam that made the young doctor flinch. 

In the hellish situation they all had been going through, Joly had forgotten about Gavroche and Azelma. They had been on their way to the celebratory party when Bossuet – when the wormhole swallowed the manor and the Amis with it, and Joly didn’t even think to spare a thought about them, with everything that happened. Could Evil-Enjolras have captured them? 

He thought about it for hours, hyperventilating in his anxious state. He even screamed for help a few times, until his throat went raw and his voice went hoarse. 

But nobody came. 

- 

Time became a blur. 

Joly couldn’t know how many days had passed since the conversation with Enjolras. His bonding had been released by Feuilly's copy a few hours after Enjolras had left, but there was no way he could get out of the room. 

There were no windows and the light was constantly turned on. The only things inside the room were two chairs and the ropes that had been used to tie Joly up, thrown dismissingly at the corner of the room and forgotten. Once a day, one of the doppelgangers would bring him a glass of water and a bread, and those were the only things Joly ate daily. He could feel himself get thinner and his head throbbed from dehydration for hours until the next cup of water. He did his best to keep track of the time that passed, but after what felt like an eternity, he decided he didn’t care anymore. 

The worse moments were when either Bossuet or Musichetta were the ones to bring him food. On the first time it happened, Joly's heart ached terribly and he found himself whispering his lover's name. He was met with indifference, and that only made Enjolras' words echo through his head throughout the day. 

But what truly upset Joly were his visions. Sometimes, they were just glimpses without meaning – Grantaire chugging a bottle of beer, Gavroche hiding in the dark holding something with a clenched fist, Combeferre pacing nervously inside an unfamiliar room. Joly could never be sure whether the visions were actually glimpses of the future (or the present; it happened sometimes), or if they were vision planted on his brain by Evil-Enjolras to drive him to insanity. 

One day, Joly woke up and immediately realized that there was something wrong about the gray room he had grown so familiar with. It took him a few seconds of sleepy confusion to realize what was different. 

The door was open. 

Joly got up from where he fell asleep on the dusty hard floor, stumbling to his shaky feet. He felt terrible, it was like his brain had turned to cotton and his bones could break any second. Joly used to be terrified that he would die of something as silly as a whooping cough, but now, being alive after days – weeks? Months? He couldn’t tell – of malnourishment and dehydration, that seemed like some futile worry from ages ago. Everything he knew felt like from ages ago. 

He made his way to the door, leaning heavily on the walls, and peeked his head to check the corridor. He daydreamed about an opportunity to escape, a chance to see at least the corridor outside instead of rotting inside that terrible room. Seeing it now seemed utopic, the corridor was not much different from the room – greyish, dusty and too bright with artificial light – but it also was the best thing Joly had ever seen in his entire life. 

There was no one that Joly could see, so he slowly and silently walked out of the room. His legs were shaking for the lack of use, and his eyes stung from the brightness, but still he reached the corner with only a little difficulty. 

As Joly carefully cornered the hall, he still found it deserted. Frowning, he continued walking through it, finding it at least suspicious that no one was around to guard his room. Who had opened the door? Is this a trap? 

Even if he had wanted to, he wouldn’t have been able to sit idly inside that room, waiting. There was no other way out of this. 

Doubling another corner, Joly found himself standing in front of a large door. It was old, tall and it seemed fragile, but it was slightly ajar. 

That was the point of no return. 

He gathered all the strength he still had inside his body and pushed the door open. 

It took Joly's eyes a few seconds to grow used to the darkness of the room – he had spent ages inside a constantly lighted one. As he blinked the colorful spots away from his vision, he walked inside, trying to focus on the image in front of him. 

There was a large, wooden throne on the middle of the room, raised by a few blocks of cement that formed a stair. Sitting on the throne, was Enjolras. 

Around him, the Amis' doppelgangers stood, aligned and somewhat in position, as if they were some sort of guards. Grantaire was the only one out of this alignment around the throne, being sat by Enjolras' feet instead. 

"Welcome", Evil-Enjolras greeted, a single eyebrow raising for a mere second as if it has spasmed, and a smirk growing on his face.  

Joly stopped on his tracks, several meters away from the throne. It looked like a religious chair used only inside cathedrals, and even if Joly didn’t doubt that Evil-Enjolras wouldn’t think twice before stealing such a thing, he frowned wondering how the man had managed to steal that without being  caught, even with his telepathic powers. 

"All will be cleared", Enjolras said, as if responding to his thoughts. "But first, I would like to have a little chat with you". 

"I have nothing to talk with you", Joly said, voice hoarse. God, how many time had passed since he had last spoken something out loud? 

"You won't need to speak, then", Enjolras' smirk deepened. He crossed one leg and looked at Bahorel and Feuilly, who, with a wave of Enjolras' hand, walked past Joly and left the room. "Like I said, all will be cleared. Now, allow me to ask you a question. How did you and your friends gain your superpowers?" 

"You already know that", Joly scorned. "I don't have to tell you". 

"You're right, of course. But you will tell me", Enjolras stared deep inside Joly's eyes, gaze never breaking. The young doctor felt a strong compulsion at the back of his mind, making it impossible for him not to comply to Enjolras' request. 

"We were protesting against BL's experimentations and the protest went wrong and became violent. People invaded the building and the police followed; there was a gunfight and one of the shots hit the reactor inside the place. The building exploded, and everyone who was in the hit-zone but not close enough to die from the explosion was affected on a genetic level, acquiring superhuman abilities". 

"So you received your gifts with no effort at all?" Enjolras asked, still smiling. "You were just there in the right time at the right place?" 

"Yes", Joly complied. 

"Nice. That's nice. Thank you for sharing that. Do you know how we gained our powers, Jolllly?" 

Joly flinched again at the use of the nickname, but a sharp "no" made its way past his lips. 

Enjolras hummed, smile disappearing. Bahorel barged back into the room, dragging a trembling, gagged man with him. He threw the man at the base of Enjolras throne, Grantaire eyeing him with disdain as he cleaned the beneath of his nails with a knife. The gagged man was openly sobbing now, hands tied behind his back as he trembled and begged for forgiveness, gag muffling his words. 

"This is the CEO of Better Living Industries", Enjolras announced, finally getting up from his throne and walking down the few steps until he was merely a few inches above the trembling figure at his feet. "His name is Félix Tholomyès. He is the one who allowed them to experiment on humans, and on other less meaningful subjects", he punctuated the last word with a kick to the man's chest, sending him flying back and colliding with the floor. His cries were getting more desperate now. Enjolras pulled the man by the front of his shirt, pulling him into a sitting position on the floor. 

"I thought killing you once was enough, but I guess I just can't be satisfied", he smirked, punching the man on the face. He left the pathetic sobbing figure lying on the ground as he stood again, walking towards Joly. The man took an instinctive step back, away from Enjolras, but the leader stopped on his tracks. 

"The Félix Tholomyès from my world promised me a cure for my disease, and instead used me as a subject for his tests", Enjolras told Joly, face stoic but eyes flaming with rage. "They tortured me and used me for years until I finally set myself free. They didn’t mean for my powers to be as strong as they are, no. They didn’t even mean for me to have telepathy, they can't control what ability their subjects have, can they?" He placed a foot above Tholomyès chest, pining him to the ground. "They gave me my gifts. But they took something from me that I can never get back". 

"What was that?" Joly couldn’t help but to ask. 

"Myself", Enjolras responded, green eyes staring at Joly menacingly. "I freed myself and my brothers. I released them from the hands of a corporation that only wanted to own us and weaponize us. But this won't happen ever again". 

Enjolras stared down at the trembling man beneath his feet with disdain. 

"Any last words?" He asked, and the man frantically tried to say something but his voice was muffled by the gag once more. He looked desperate, pleading, tears flooding from his eyes. Enjolras merely stared at him, no signs of pity or any emotion on his face. Suddenly, the man stopped speaking and began to convulse, eyes rolling to the back of his skull and blood beginning to ooze from his nostrils. Enjolras never took his eyes out of him, until the man's seizures came to a stop and his head fell limply to the side. His face was a bloodied mess. 

Enjolras sighed and removed his foot from the man's chest, scrapping his boot on the floor as if to clean it. He looked back at Joly. 

"He got what he deserved", he explained, despite not looking as if he owed Joly any explanations. "And people like him are going to get it, too". His blank expression turned into some kind of sorrow as Joly stared back at him, heart beating madly inside his chest. "You don't believe me". 

"There are too many dishonest and evil people in the world", Joly explained, voice trembling. "You won't solve anything by killing them". 

Enjolras approached Joly, face mere inches away from the doctor's. 

"Every single person in any world is evil", Enjolras growled. "There is no such thing as an inherently good human being. We are all scum, we are born scum and we will die scum unless someone comes to purify us". 

"And you're this someone?" Joly scoffed, despite feeling more scared than he's ever felt. "How will someone as dirty as you purify us?" 

"Through pain", Enjolras explained, and a skull-splitting headache overcame Joly, who fell to his knees from the shock. "Me and my friends have risen above you all because we went through things no one could ever imagine. It made us stronger, and it made us better. All I want is to give you and the people from this world a chance to become better". 

"Through torture?!" Joly asked through gritted teeth, both hands holding his temples and trying to stop the pain. "This will make y-you no b-better than T-Tholomyès, y-you'll be just l-like him". 

"Tholomyès was a filthy rat who had no right to do the things he did", Enjolras growled, sounding furious. "I am a telepath, I can read any mind I want and I know what's better for you. You can rise and stand with us". 

"I w-will never s-stand with an evil t-torturer and m-molester such as you", Joly screamed, pain overwhelming him. He could feel something wet and warm leaking through his nose, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to take it much longer.  

The pain stopped, and Joly's body couldn’t sustain itself. He fell forwards, the only thing preventing him from hitting his face on the ground were his hands. He looked up, vision blurred by tears and panting harshly. He noticed Feuilly was standing beside Enjolras – when had he gotten there? - and Joly's heart nearly stopped when he saw a terrified Gavroche and a trembling Azelma in front of the redhead, both youngsters with their hands tied in front of them. Feuilly had a hand on each of their shoulders, holding them in place. 

"You refuse to take your place with us?" Enjolras scowled. 

"I will only take the place of freedom and liberty", Joly panted, trying to reassure the siblings in front of him with a look. 

"Musichetta", Enjolras called, and just hearing the name of his lover out loud was enough to make an unwanted sob find its way up Joly's throat. The woman left her place in the formation and walked towards Joly until she was standing right in front of him, looking down at the doctor with indifference. 

"If you don’t want to join us willingly", Enjolras said, voice cold. "Then you will be purged from your natural evilness. And a good purification can only be delivered through fire". 

Enjolras walked back to his throne, jumping over the dead body on the way with disdain and sitting on the chair as if he belonged there. 

With a mental order from Enjolras, Musichetta's whole body burst into flames, making her look like a human torch. 

"Everyone shall know I am the king of this world", Enjolras announced, as Musichetta approached Joly. The doctor tried to lean away from the woman that looked just like his lover, but he was too weak to do so and the heat emanating from her flaming body only grew stronger as she chased him. She grabbed his ankle and Joly screamed in pain, fingerprints feeling like burning coal against his skin. Enjolras smirked again at this, leaning back against the chair and petting Grantaire's curls absentmindedly as he watched the scene in front of him. 

Joly screamed again when Musichetta grabbed his forearm, a cut off "Chetta, please-" leaving his quivering lips before the woman pulled him into a hug. Joly's scream sounded animalesque at this, and Enjolras rejoiced as Grantaire leaned closer to his touch. 

"And so the purgation begins", Enjolras whispered to himself. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please leave kudos and comment below :-3 This really motivates me to write faster and makes me happy ^-^  
> Thank you for reading, and you can always find me on edema--ruh.tumblr.com


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